Corralejo -> Gatwick -> home

We set the alarm quite early in order to be out the door by about 8am. We did the last bit of cleaning and packing, had a quick cuppa, made some sandwiches with the food left over, and left the door open for Paula to deal with.

We walked down the hill and back to Maxorata Beach apartments. The bus was late, but thankfully it was a small minibus, and there were only two pick-ups after us.

We journeyed to the airport through a fresh collection of rainbows, and arrived with no problems. It was early, and bag drop hadn't opened yet. So we sat in a cafe and Christian had a coffee. I ate one of my sandwiches. The counter finally opened, and we'd managed to miss the beginning of the queue, so we had quite a wait. While edging up the queue, Christian weighed the bag, and discovered it was too heavy, and so we transferred a few things to my backpack.

Having dropped our bags off, we went through security, and had a look in the shops. I wish now that I'd bought some volcanic stone earrings, but never mind. We sat for a while so our gate could be called, eating sweets from our drive, and then went to our gate.

The flight boarded early and we found our seats. The flight was fairly comfortable. We ordered hot drinks and soup - the soup made my other sandwich much more palatable. Christian had a croque monsieur.

Another smooth landing in Gatwick, and after a painless trip through baggage and passport control, we got our car back easily, stopped for fuel, and drove through moderate to heavy traffic on the M25.

And then we were home.

This was a great trip because it allowed both of us to really stop and relax. The weather was a bit disappointing, but we managed to do pretty much all of what we wanted to do.

Paella, walking, and last La Casita

The morning was mostly taken over by the fact that it rained heavily in the night, and the ceiling of the apartment was leaking in a moderately alarming way. We emailed Manuel, and he got Paula to look in on the damage, but we all agreed that there was little that could be done about it on a Saturday.

It took us a while to decide what to do this morning, as we still had the car for another day. After debating over breakfast, we decided to take the car back, as we'd seen all that we were likely to see by car. We got fuel at the fuel station across the road, carefully got a receipt as requested, and drove into the underground car park.

Upon arriving at the Avis office, we found that it was closed. So we dropped the key in the box (but not the fuel receipt), went back down to the car, took photos, and wandered down to the restaurant strip in search of paella for lunch.

We were harassed by a number of spruiking restauranteurs, and gave in to one of them on the main beachside strip. It was a pretty ordinary looking place, but the paella was reasonable, and cheap. We ate way too much of it, and then had an ice cream at the nearby shop. We hung around the jetty for a while watching people feeding the absolutely crapload of small fish schooling below.

We'd decided to have a walk, and so we followed the coast around past Waikiki beach. Not too far along, I needed the toilet, and so we paid our friends at Atlantis another visit. We kept all the way around the coast to Parque Natural, and sat watching the kite surfers again. The sand was blasting us mercilessly, so we headed back to the apartment via the road. We stopped in a nice shopping centre in search of cash (but failed), and then stopped again at the Botanic Gardens. It was built as a largish mound, which we'd passed a number of times but never identified. We walked up around the spiral path, leaping puddles all the way, and took in the view of the area for the last time, in the dying golden rays.

Back at the apartment, we relaxed and drank some sangria. Then we cleaned the place as best we could, showered, got ready, and went out for our final meal at La Casita. It was cool, but we chose to sit outside again. The restaurant was almost deserted, which made no sense to me for a Saturday evening.

We ordered champagne sangria again (small this time), and I ordered oven-baked baby goat. The waiter couldn't recommend it highly enough, so I was looking forward to it lots. Christian ordered a steak.

The goat was spectacular. I felt quite bad about eating a very small animal, but I probably eat them frequently without realising. Christian was a bit disappointed with his steak. It was OK, but not sizzling and amazing. He had a dessert, but I didn't. We got our customary liqueur with the bill, said our final goodbyes, and headed back to the apartment for our last night.

South to Morro Jable

The weather was pretty dire this day, and I didn't feel like going anywhere. We bought a few groceries at the supermarket that we finally found in Oasis Dunas, ummed and aahed some more, and finally decided to go and do the drive to the south of the island as planned.

First we had a cold lunch in the apartment, and set off at about 2pm. The wind was pretty bad, and sand was blowing furiously across the road in Parque Natural. We made a stop in Caleta de Fusta, and had a wander around a lovely outdoor bar and restaurant area with a great view into the beach, and then around to a sea lion enclosure (poor beasts), and a lot of abandoned pleasure craft. Finally, we walked through a large resort to have a look at the castillo, and headed back to the car.

We kept driving, intending to stop off where interesting things presented themselves, but didn't make many stops - only Tarajalejo, where we'd taken a wrong turn, to look at the black beach, and Costa Calma, where the densely planted palm trees went some way to stopping the incessant wind. There was a strange section of very shiny motorway road here, but the rest was either two-way traffic or ordinary dual carriageway (with roadworks thrown in).

Eventually we arrived at Morro Jable (about 5.15). It was a big holiday town, with a lot of resorts scattered around. Again, we got the feeling of abandoned building projects, and unfinished roads. We parked, and wandered along the main street in search of something to eat. We found it in a bakery. A quick toilet stop, and we were ready to head off. I wanted some sweets, so walked uphill a little way to a supermarket sign, only to find it boarded up.

Back on the road, Christian followed a services sign, with the aim of finding sweets, but we just went around in a big circle. It got dark after a little while, and so we just kept driving. We stopped at a real services for sweets, then took an internal road through Tuineje to Antigua. That was something of a mistake, because we were on this narrow, meandering road for a long time, and I wondered more than once whether we were going the right way.

Tuineje was a tiny town, and Antigua was fairly uninteresting in the dark. We headed for Corralejo, getting back after 8pm. We had a quiet dinner and some TV before going to bed.

El Cotillo, La Oliva, Puerto del Rosario

Today was the day that we'd hired the car for, but we were in no particular hurry to get started. We had breakfast and got ready, and headed out on foot to the Avis car rental place, which google told us was up on the main road behind the apartment. We walked, and asked, and walked and asked, and finally we were told that Avis had moved back into Las Palmeras - the shopping centre closest to the apartment. So we walked back. Grrrr.

In Las Palmeras, we found Avis on the top floor and the woman there talked us through all of the things. Finally we got the keys, and went down into the underground car park to drive away. It was a small black Skoda, and did the job. We drove back to the apartment, parking across the road outside Oasis Dunas.

We packed up the things we'd need, planned a basic route, and headed out. I'd found a road that led to the nearest volcanoes, and I navigated us to the beginning of that road, in the north west of Corralejo. Turns out it was a dirt road. So we turned around and went the other way that would get us to the volcanoes. It wasn't a road at all. From that point, I stopped trusting google's representations of roads. So we took the main road straight across to El Cotillo, where the Easy Riders guy had recommended a seafood restaurant.

We went through Lajares to get there, which was a small town of little note. El Cotillo is a much more charming seaside town than Corralejo, but with a very grand approach through El Roque.

We parked in a small side street, and went in search of the La Vaca Azul restaurant. It wasn't difficult to find. We got a table outside (it was only just after 12pm), and studied the menu. El Cotillo centres around a rocky bay, which on this occasion was being buffeted by furious surf. And the tide was coming in. And dark clouds were threatening.

As we sat, the day's fish was delivered to the side door of the restaurant, and someone lovingly laid it out in a display case. We decided against a starter, and ordered mixed grilled fish for two. They brought out an extra table to put beside us, laying it with special knives, and giving us bread and dips. That's when I knew this was going to be a special meal.

When it came out, the fish were whole, and quite small. The waiter deftly took the heads off, separated the meat from the bones, and presented the fillets on our plates. A wonderful experience and one that I won't forget in a hurry. The fish was served with Canarian potatoes and the two famous dips. The fish itself was wonderful, though you did have to be quite careful with bones.

We had desserts - Christian had crema catalana, which was streets ahead of the creme brulee I'd had at La Casita, and I had sorbet, which was tasty. It was a wonderful meal.

After the meal, we wandered around the rest of El Cotillo, taking pictures. From the top of the opposite cliff, we could see the harbour and the castillo, and went to investigate the harbour. There wasn't an enormous amount to see, but it would be a much gentler alternative to Corralejo as a base.

Back in the car, we drove south to La Oliva. I expected it to be a bigger city than Corralejo, as it is the administrative centre of the north of the island. I was wrong. It was a fairly small town. We stopped at Casa de Los Coroneles, which is a grand house used by both military and civilian law keepers over the years. It is architecturally significant for the island, but we didn't pay to go inside. We took some photos of the surroundings, though, as the rock formations in the mountains were amazing.

We drove on, taking the long way to Puerto del Rosario. On the approach to the town, a brilliant rainbow appeared beside us. We stopped to take photos, but most of the vividness had faded. I'd never seen anything like it, particularly one that you could see going to ground.

We found a spot to park near the port, and had a wander. There was a giant cruise ship docked, and the foreshore had been nicely decorated with sculptures and statues. The sun was shining, and so it was a pleasant detour.

We drove back to Corralejo, and had an evening in with some tortilla wraps I'd bought, then some pasta because they weren't enough, some wine, and some telly.

Lobos Island on wheels

The boat to Lobos left from the port at 9.30, so we got up relatively early, made some sandwiches to take with us, had a quick breakfast, packed our stuff, and cycled down to the port.

We got there fairly early, and bought our tickets. Christian got a coffee and we sat down to wait for the boat.

When the time came, we ambled over to the boat, showed our tickets, and the crew hefted our bikes over the bow and stowed them not very securely against the rail. We took seats next to them. The boat filled up until it was almost full to bursting, and, after a couple came running after we'd cast off and were let on, we set off to Lobos.

The journey was short and comfortable, if a little chilly. We went towards the little port, and pulled up beside a huge concrete jetty. The way to get off was by stepping onto some steps carved into the concrete. The boat was tossing quite a lot, and a few people struggled to make it. We got people and bikes off, and I made a toilet stop, before starting our adventure.

We decided to head to the left (north-west), and set off riding. Following signs to the salt pans, we dismounted and had a wander. It's a large series of drying pans that doesn't look like it's been used for years. We headed on north-wards to the caldera, via a minor path. This was a mistake, as it was very rocky, and I couldn't handle the terrain. We backtracked, getting back onto the main track. This was equally problematic as it got very muddy, and I skidded and ended up knee/hand first in the sludgy orange mud. Nice.

We left our bikes where they were and walked the rest of the distance to the caldera. The walk up was fairly hard work, though the terrain was fine. The view was excellent, and there weren't many other people there. We took some photos, had a snack and headed back down.

Picking up our bikes again, we kept going north through the middle of the island, and the path got more and more sandy, which was just as difficult to negotiate. After a long downhill coast, we were at the lighthouse at the northern tip of the island (Punta Martino), and left our bikes at the bottom to go and explore. There wasn't a great deal there apart from lots of concrete, a lighthouse, nice beaches, and a great view of Lanzarote.

We turned back and headed back down the length of the island to the lagoon (Playa de la Concha) to do some snorkelling. The wind was pretty strong, and I wasn't totally keen, but it was sunny, and the beach was very nice. We found a spot in a rocky shelter and had a little rest and some lunch, and got our wetsuits on. Christian led the charge into the water (unsurprisingly), and I followed at a leisurely pace. The water was cold, but I persevered, and stayed in for about half an hour. There were plenty of fish, some very big and interesting. Another guy was snorkelling near us, but without a wetsuit. He'd seen us go in, and had taken courage from that. He must have been frozen.

After getting stuck in a slightly scary current, and deciding to head in, we took some silly Go-Pro photos and went to dry off. We ate some more lunch, basked a little in the sun, and got ready to move on.

We went on to the south-east corner in search of a little town and a cafe. Just before the little town, there was another muddy patch, so we walked our bikes through it. To my dismay, our nearly clean-again bikes were muddier than before.

The town wasn't much, but we left our bikes half in the sea, and got some drinks. There was a little harbour here, and it would have made for much more interesting snorkelling, but the boat activity may have made it difficult. We walked on the jetty and took some photos before moving on.

It was a short journey back to the port, and I found that the toilets I'd used were closed up. Handy. There were quite a few people waiting for the 4pm ferry, and we took our place, tried to clean as much mud off the bikes as we could, and took some photos.

The boat arrived, and the conditions were worse than before. The crew had to basically manhandle people onto the ferry, and goodness knows how the bikes got on there. We pushed off, and then some people came running for the boat. As it was the last boat of the day we had to go back for them, and there was cheering as they got on the wildly bobbing boat.

The journey back was pretty rough, but we were fine. After docking in the shelter of Corralejo harbour, we got off, waited for our bikes to be handed off the boat, and cycled back via the busiest parts of town to Grandes Playas (via a drop off at the apartment) to return the bikes. We had a short wait until they opened, but the man there logged the bikes back in, and thankfully didn't have a problem with all the mud.

We walked back to the apartment, and relaxed for a while before having a shower and getting dressed to go out. We went back to La Casita because it had been so good. We took the same table we'd had the night before, and ordered some champagne sangria, which was ridiculously good. It was raining a little, and so we moved the table further under the shelter, closer to another couple (who didn't mind). I don't think we had starters on this occasion, and for mains we ordered a mixed meat grill for two. It came out sizzling like crazy - it had pork, chicken, steak, lamb and ribs. It was all delicious, apart from the lamb, which was a bit gristly.

We hadn't got very far into it when the rain came down properly. We scooted indoors, and one waiter helped us in with everything in a haphazard kind of way. The inside was nice enough, but it was noisy, and very dark in comparison. I didn't like it nearly as much.

For dessert, Christian had the chocolate cake I'd had the night before, and I had creme brulee. The creme brulee turned out to be suspiciously like crema catalana. It was delicious, though. Huge, but delicious.

Once again, we waddled back to the apartment and went to bed.

Diving/walking

This morning was Christian's dive, and so he got up relatively early, followed by me some time later, and he headed back to Waikiki beach. I pottered a bit, then got ready and went out. It was much sunnier and warmer than it had been

I walked up the main street, investigating the things I'd wanted to look at, like jewellery in the shops (uninteresting), and to call in to ask Easy Riders about what they could offer (the man in the shop on the main street didn't speak very good English, but it turned out that he couldn't help me with excursions - only with hire). I walked to the left at the end of the main street, and found the part of town that is less touristy and more set up for the locals, with travel agents, laundrettes, bus stops, and fruit shops. I went as far as the interesting shops, but didn't go all the way to the port end.

I headed back to the main street via the beach side, then followed the signs to the main Easy Riders office to the east. Turns out it was right near the Atlantis resort that our bus from the airport had stopped off at. After a long walk, I found it, and spoke to a nice man there who said the weather was definitely going to deteriorate, and that the boat to Lobos might not run the next day. Then the owner got off the phone, and spouted a stack of rubbish at me, though I did get the salient details. Essentially, we needn't pay for a guided bike tour - guiding ourselves around the north coast, to the volcanoes, or even to Lobos was easy.

I headed back into town, bought some more groceries, and took them back to the apartment. Then I got changed into my swimmers, and went to meet Christian post-dive. I got there as he was dekitting. I sat and waited as the day got less warm. We sat for a bit, and I decided that I didn't really want to go for a swim after all, and neither did Christian.

We headed back to the apartment yet again, and I made lunch from the mezze plate ingredients that I'd bought. It was nice. We took it easy for a while, and then, as Christian had decided that my idea of hiring bikes was a good one, and his preference was for Lobos, we walked all the way back to Easy Riders.

I hadn't been able to translate the scribble on the leaflet that the silly man had given me, but it became clear what he had been trying to communicate when we got to the shop and it was closed. Oh. We decided to go into the Atlantis resort and get a drink while we waited for it to open again at 5. This plan went well until we got to the bar queue and saw that no one was paying for their drinks. I tried to explain to the man that we weren't staying there, and he seemed to say that that was OK. So Christian asked for a beer, and I wanted to ask about cocktails. He showed me a menu and said that some were inclusive and some weren't. I thought I understood and so asked for one of the non-inclusive ones. Confusion took over, and we finally got the man to understand that we weren't staying there. He went away. The woman behind us said that we'd have to pay at reception and go back. The man came back and said the same thing. We walked nonchalantly off, with no intention of returning. We took ourselves on a self-guided tour of the resort, decided it was very nice and that we would never want to spend that much money on it, and then went back to the bike shop.

We sat for a little while as the man opened everything up. We booked the bike hire, and passage for the bikes on the boat, with the actual boat tickets for us to be bought on the boat. So we got to do Lobos and mountain biking in the same activity. The guy I'd been emailing about bike excursions wanted a lot more money than that, and was only to the volcanoes.

On our newfound hire bikes, we cycled back to the apartment, and stashed them on the balcony.

We fancied a cocktail by the beach (well, it was Christian's idea), so we got dressed up, and walked down to Waikiki beach again. We walked past the one that had no people sitting outside it, and went to the actual Waikiki bar/restaurant.

We found a table, stuck the legs in the sand better so that it wasn't wonky, and waited for someone to serve us. There was a bunch of British tourists taking selfies against the sunset. Christian went to the bar to buy drinks but the man told him it was table service and that they would come out. They didn't. So he went back in and managed to persuade them to let him order. He had a receipt. After another five or so minutes, a man came to take our order. He looked confused when we said we'd already paid and that we had a receipt. Our drinks came soon after. We'd decided on caipirinhas, and they were delicious.

Before long, all the people had gone, and it got dark. We were hungry, but weren't sure where to go. I hadn't managed to look up any of the restaurants I'd seen recommended online, so we had to decide on the Waikiki restaurant, which Christian liked the look of, or the nice-looking restaurant near the apartment. I chose the one near the apartment.

We strolled back there, and got a table outside near a heater. The menu was incredibly diverse. I decided on melon and prosciutto as a starter, with grilled king prawns for main. Christian had mussels for starter, and something for main that I can't remember. Meat of some kind, I imagine. It was extremely good food, and served with a friendly flourish. We had a bottle of bubbly with it.

We had dessert as well (I had a syrupy chocolate cake thing, and Christian had a creme caramel), which resulted in some very full bellies. We waddled back to the apartment and went to bed.

Exploring Corralejo

We had a very lazy morning, cooked bacon and eggs, and set off mid-morning for a walk through the town and up to the port. The end of town that we were staying in was quite tacky and British oriented, and that continued for some way down the main street, getting more touristy, but after a while, it changed. It got more Spanish, with more traditional restaurants and narrow lanes. Only at that point did I feel like we were in a place worth visiting.

We discovered the restaurant strip that followed the beach, which mostly retained the Spanish charm (apart from the Gordon Ramsay restaurant), and found our way onto Waikiki Beach. Paula had recommended Mar y Mas diving shop, and we went in to talk to them. She'd mentioned Roberto, but I hadn't remembered his name. We found ourselves talking to Roberto, and he explained the diving options. There was a discovery dive that I could do without a licence for €90, and more advanced dives that Christian could do for much less. We took the information, and went to think about it.

We walked up to the port, being exposed to the worst of the wind coming from the north-west. You can clearly see Lanzarote to the north, and Lobos Island to the north-east. We walked around the top of the breakwall.

There was an Armas car ferry that went to Lanzarote, and a Fred Olsen fast cat that also went to Lanzarote. Various small boats went to Lobos. We spoke to a couple of people about prices for going to both places and they were reasonable, but without knowing what our other plans were, we couldn't really book anything. The kayaking/snorkelling people had got back to say that conditions would make the excursion we'd booked impossible, which was a real shame as I'd been looking forward to it.

We were hungry by now, and on our stroll back to the restaurants, allowed ourselves to get talked into tapas at the first restaurant after the fish co-op (which smelt amazing but didn't have a wonderful menu - and there was only outdoor seating). We got a sheltered table, and ordered some sangria, and about six tapas dishes. The menu was comprehensive and inventive. The food was even better. It was a great meal.

We discussed diving, and I said that I wasn't very confident doing anything very deep or ambitious, and so we decided that Christian would do the more advanced dives the next morning and I would find something else to do. I was keen for him to get some diving done. So we walked back to Mar y Mas and he signed up for the next day. He would have to do a medical in order to go ahead, and a doctor was coming in that morning.

While there, we decided to hire some kayaks and pootle around the bay for the afternoon, so we went back to the apartment, got our wetsuits on, packed our snorkelling gear, and headed back to Waikiki beach.

Roberto got the kayaks ready for us, and we tied on the dry bag with our gear in it, and set off into the wind. The conditions weren't great, but we made good progress. As we got a fair way out, Christian decided to tether his kayak to mine and do a bit of snorkelling. This wasn't ideal, as there was a kayak in the way of where I wanted to paddle, and I was getting a bit seasick looking down. He had a quick look around, then gave up and reclaimed his kayak. We paddled all the way into the main Corralejo bay, and beached the kayaks. We both had a snorkel there. There wasn't much to see, but there were a few small silver fish.

It was pretty cold, and so we headed back to Waikiki beach to give the kayaks back within the hour, and did a few circles on the way to fill in time.

Back on the shore, we saw some people on paddle boards, and after some debate, we decided to hire one between us for another hour to have a go.

Christian went first, and did very well, apart from falling to his knees a couple of times. I was a bit afraid of being crap, but I managed to stand up too. The wind made it incredibly difficult to steer sensibly, and I nearly lost it a few times. A man on the shore was using my bad technique to advise Christian, and Christian then passed it on to me. He had another try, using man's improvements. I had another go too, using man's improvements, but I found that that made it more difficult.

Anyway, it was fun to try, and I'd like to have a go in calmer conditions. The sun came out during our exertions as well, which was nice. We got no photos, though, as we took no devices.

We took the board back before our hour was up, and headed back to the apartment.

From what I remember, we caught up on the internet, cooked and ate pasta, and watched TV that evening.

Gatwick to Fuerteventura

It was tough getting up with not enough sleep, but we dragged ourselves through the rain to the terminal, and joined the queue for bag drop. It moved pretty quickly, and we went through security pretty smartly. We didn't have time to stop for breakfast, but Christian went back from the gate to grab us some pastries to eat on the plane. We took off on time, and got tea/coffee on the flight. I dozed for a lot of it.

The landing in Fuerteventura was smooth, the sun was shining, and it was warm. What more could you want? We went through passport control, and waited a little while for our bag.

Resorthoppa texted me about the transfer, and we found our way to the right queue (the longest), and got our pass, and which bay to find the coach. It was very efficient, and the driver understood where we wanted to go. The landscape was very barren with stark volcanic mountains and dark sandy soil. Near the end of the journey the proper sand dunes started.

We tried to call Paula on the coach, but couldn't get through until we were almost in Corralejo. As we were driving around the hotels dropping people off, she told us on the phone to meet her at the Dunas Hotel. I had difficulty understanding her, and she clearly had difficulty understanding me. We got off, and asked about where to find the Dunas Hotel, including at the Maxorata Beach apartments which is the c/o address that Manuel had given us. There was no such thing, so we tried the Dunas Caleta Club, where no one had heard of Paula.

Before we tried the other Dunas hotel (Oasis Dunas) we called her again, and she agreed to meet us at the petrol station, which was right nearby. We met up with no problems. She'd been surfing and missed our calls.

She walked us to the apartment, which was actually part of the Oasis Royal complex (go figure), and across the road from Oasis Dunas. Grrr. Anyway, she settled us in, having cleaned the apartment for Manuel, and said we could call on her if we needed anything - she lived next door. Sweet lady.

We unpacked, and relaxed a little, before walking back to the main street to get some cash, have some lunch (Retro Bar and Grill - fairly ordinary - the woman who served me was British), and pick up some groceries. We needed drinking water as you can't drink the water from the taps, so bought a massive five litre bottle.

We'd bought a pizza without realising that there wasn't an oven in the apartment, and so attempted to cook it in a paella pan. It really didn't work, made a horrendous mess, and needed to go in the microwave. We opened the bottle of wine we'd bought, having a quiet night in watching the videos we'd brought with us.

To Gatwick!

Having sung in a CMTC concert in Chesham, and taken having separate cars, we journeyed back to Wycombe to finish packing the car and leave the Astra behind. We left home at around 11pm. We stopped for food for me, as I'd not had a proper dinner.

The journey to Gatwick was going well until the M25 threw its worst at us, closing down to one lane for roadworks, and adding about half an hour to our trip. Grrrr! Anyway, we made it to the right airport car park at something near 1am, checked in the car for valet parking with no fuss. It was a surprisingly short walk to the Premier Inn.

I'd checked in in advance, and when we walked into the foyer, a very smiley man welcomed us, and showed us how to use a very clever machine that spat out our keys. Amazing.

The room was surprisingly nice. We collapsed into bed and knew nothing until the alarm woke us at 5.30. Not enough sleep, but at least it was some.

Road tripping back to Vienna, and flying home

The alarm was set for seven, and this time, we got up when it went off, having been awake before that anyway. The tent was quite wet. I let down the ready bed while Christian went to the amenities block, and when he came back, I went off to use the amenities while he packed the bags. We folded up the tent and Christian started packing the car while I went to take some photos of the lake. We met at reception, and I got us some breakfast, asked for completely in German, and correctly delivered. I got coffee this time, after having learned my lesson, and after having said no to sugar, had to apologise and ask for some after all.

We headed off, with Gruner See as our destination. We stopped for fuel a little way around the lake. There was a short section of the A2 to drive, and then we peeled off to the north. The roads were a lot more minor, sometimes single-lane, but the scenery was much more interesting. We made a short stop for toilet and a coffee for Christian, and carried on, through Bruck, along increasingly smaller and more winding roads, to the car park for Gruner See. We didn't have much time to spend here, and I had to wait to use the portaloo.

We walked to the nearby lake, and walked around it, stopped to sit and eat some fruit and drink some water and take some photos. There was a sign that didn't mention Gruner See, and I really wasn't sure that it was Gruner See, but we didn't have time to explore the area any further. (It wasn't Gruner See, it was Pfarrerteich.) It was still beautiful and peaceful, and worth stopping.

Back in the car, we negotiated the small roads back to Bruck, and then back on to an autobahn. We ate the cold pizza (which was surprisingly nice), and via a couple of roadworks detours, found ourselves approaching Vienna again. We stopped for fuel again to ensure a full tank upon return (Christian was accosted by a Scandinavian metal band selling CDs in the fuel station), and kept on. We arrived at the airport with no problems, and parked in the Avis rental car return section.

We started to empty the car of all our possessions, checking every pocket and crevice. A man came to check the car and take the keys. We packed everything up, and headed to departures.

We rearranged some of our gear, and checked our bags in with no problems. On walking through to the gates, though, it became obvious that something was wrong - one flight to London had been cancelled, one delayed, but no change to ours. Turns out there was the tail-end of a hurricane hitting the UK, and Heathrow was limiting the number of flights that could land. The internet suggested that ours was delayed as well, even if the airport didn't.

We could do nothing but wait, and we boarded, fairly late. Once on the plane, the captain explained the landing limit at Heathrow, and that we'd have to wait for 50 minutes. That was extended, and finally we were on our way.

The flight was bumpy, but otherwise OK. We got a nice flatbread thing, and I got a cup of tea. The approach into London was yucky, and I felt quite ill quite fast. Even after we landed, I had to sit very still for a while, and walk carefully back to the terminal.

We rang the car park, and arranged to be picked up. It took a while, but eventually we got back to the car, and drove home.

A Scottish wedding in Austria

We had the alarm set for 7am, but I wasn't ready to get up, and neither was Christian, as he reset it for 8am and we dozed off again until then.

The campsite was unbelievably quiet, even up until 9am, which impressed me no end. We got our swimmers on, ate our breakfast from the flight the day before, and went to get tea/coffee at the kiosk. They didn't speak English, so we muddled through, with coffee for Christian, tea for me, and a pastry as well for Christian (bad!). I asked for milk, and the woman indicated that there was milk in there. Turns out the milk was in the coffee, and my tea was black Earl Grey. Urgh. I drank it, and then we ventured down to the lake. Christian got in, but it was too cold for me, and time was getting away anyway.

We showered and changed (I discovered that my dress no longer fit me properly), and rearranged the world, checked our routes/addresses, and set off in the car. The people in a caravan opposite us were packing up, and they had to move their car to let us out.

We drove into Villach, following Andy's directions, and used the parking ticket to get into the nearest car park to Bamberg Hall. We got out, and met Ivo and Michael, and made our way to a lovely shady park, where we met Andy and Geddy, and all the other guests. There was a lovely combination of traditional Scottish dress, and traditional Austrian dress - sometimes in the same outfit. There just happened to be a vintage car show happening as well, so there was plenty to look at.

The ceremony began at 11am, and while it was conducted completely in German, we could sort of follow. The room was lovely, and the occasion was lovely, and the bride and groom looked amazing in their matching tartan. Afterwards, we all got the means with which to blow bubbles, which were used for photos, and which were very fun.

Everyone set off for the reception venue, in Godersdorf, but Christian and I tried to have a bit of a driving tour of Villach, because we knew we wouldn't have another chance. It was a very short tour, but we saw enough to know that, like Graz, Villach was clean, expansive, and beautiful by turns. Definitely a place to explore again in the future. The river was particularly interesting because of its azure blue. Really beautiful.

We drove on to Godersdorf (only taking one wrong turn), and after a few circuits trying to find a car park, stopped on the grass next to Andy and Fritzi (last to arrive) under an apple tree. We gathered with the other guests at the front of the Hotel Zollner, and were given a lovely tall glass of beer. Here we met Trevor, Megan, and Mary. Mary was a colleague of Fritzi's in Birmingham. The hotel was traditional in style, with flowers at the eaves, and fringed by mountains. Beautiful.

Before long, the group moved to the outdoor tables in the sun on the garden/pool side. We were aware of a large group of people in traditional Austrian dress occupying a table on the front of the building, There was bubbly, and lovely mini-burgers for us. The kitchen garden, full of herbs and vegetables, was begging to be explored, and so we went to have a look at all the interesting plants.

Back on the deck, we became aware of music from an accordion inside. The people from the table at the front were dancing around Andy and Fritzi. The dancers came outside to us, and a pretty girl grabbed Christian and started dancing with him (I held his drink, and Ivo took a photo). It was fun. Fritzi explained later that it was a festival day, and these people went from door to door helping people celebrate. It was totally unplanned.

It was finally time to sit down, and we'd been placed next to the other English speakers. It was very much an Austrian menu rather than a Scottish one, but that was fine: it sounded delicious. And it was. The wine was good - I had 'weiss', and it was very much in the Gewurz style. It was a very drawn-out meal, and it was unfortunately very hot in the room. I escaped a couple of times to stand in the only cool place - under the trees near the pool. The sun was relentless.

At around 6pm, we decided to head back to the campsite for a swim, but as we said goodbye to Andy, he said that the cake would be arriving in about 20 minutes. We felt we should stay for that, and so we did. We sat on the grass, watching some bad weather gathering after the hot day. The wonderful cake came out, and we had a piece, and finally managed to get away after another hour.

We drove a circuitous way, a bit further up into the mountains, and finally back to the lake. As we went past the campsite next door, I saw what might be a good place for dinner. We drove back to our tent, and found we had new neighbours (who said 'hallo'). We got changed, and had a wander to the lake. By now, a storm was threatening, and the water didn't look at all inviting. Given the rain starting, we decided to eat in the restaurant in our own campsite.

We managed to get a table again (inside, but were soon moved outside), and sat down. This time, I chose iced tea (Christian had another beer), and he had the schnitzel I'd had the night before, and I had a four seasons pizza. It was bloody enormous. I ate about half of it, and we took the rest with us - the woman serving us was very friendly.

We headed back to the tent, performed our ablutions, and turned in for the night. The rain continued, and got quite heavy. We were snug inside, though.

London -> Vienna -> Faaker See

The alarm went off at 4.30, and we were packed and on the road by about 5am, which hurt rather a lot. We drove to the Purple Parking business car park, left the car, and got a minibus with a stack of other people, to terminal 3 at Heathrow. We had checked in already, so only had to drop our bags. After a bit of juggling of weight between the two enormous bags (they were particularly full with all our camping gear), we walked away with our hand luggage and boarding passes, and went through a rather tiresome security experience where the female security officer had to frisk everyone and no more women could go through until she had finished each one.

Once on the other side, we went into our usual breakfast haunt, Bridge cafe, and had a nice meal. We cut it fairly fine getting to the gate, but make it OK. The flight to Vienna was comfortable enough, given we had exit row seats and no one on the aisle side of us.

In Vienna, we made our way through the small airport, I took a photo of the sheet music on the wall, we collected our bags, and started the long and tortuous journey to find the hire car desks. Christian sorted everything out while I waited, and we went downstairs into the car park to find our shiny Corsa. It had only driven 9 km, and had all the bells and whistles.

We packed the car, I got my camera out, Christian set up the TomTom, and we set off in backwards seats, on the wrong side of the road. Christian dealt with it beautifully. It was motorway driving for much of this journey. We stopped for lunch in Zöbern at an Oldtimer, which is a restaurant/cafe chain in garish tones of yellow. It had a wonderful view of mountains, though, and the food was OK. I had a rich potato dumpling dish with ham and spinach, which I couldn't finish, and Christian had tasty hash brown things. Potatoes all round. We stocked up on chocolate biscuits and water, and headed off once again.

We drove some more, during which I dozed, and before long were in Graz. We drove into the city through roadworks, and past the huge Stadthalle. The traffic lights were a bit confusing, but we found ourselves a parking spot beside the river, and set off for a walking tour. The bridge we first crossed was over some white water, which seemed odd to me in a city. And then I later saw the people kayaking on it! We walked up the opposite side of the river, dodging cyclists, and walked back across the next bridge. We decided to explore the 'beach' which was some deckchairs and sand on the concrete beside the river, and some music playing, and a kiosk. We walked along that side at water level, and then we saw the climbing wall, complete with overhang section. Wow.

We got to the next bridge, which was covered in padlocks. We could see a dome structure ahead, and so decided to keep going at water level to investigate. It was a twisty metal bridge, but with a dome in the middle housing a cafe-cum-amphitheatre, a children's play area, and a restaurant. Very impressive design.

Back up at street level (I forgot to go back and investigate the padlock bridge), we made our way into the old town, and checked out the Schloss. It's amazing. Up a sheer cliff, with a clock tower on top of it. A nice man had offered us his ticket, but we had to decline because of lack of time on the parking ticket. There were tortuous steps to get to the top, or a lift (which was presumably what the ticket was for). We went to investigate the lift, because it was at the end of a dark and mysterious looking tunnel into the mountain. As we got near the tunnel, a freezing blast of air came towards us, which was very welcome on such a warm day. The tunnel itself was pretty interesting, and we had an explore in the cool darkness. We had a look at the lift, but didn't have time to go up it (the tickets were very cheap).

All we had time to do after that was to wander through the streets, have a look at the main square, and buy some exorbitantly expensive blueberries and grapes, and then run back to the car. Where we discovered that we'd actually had another 20 minutes. Oh well. We got in the car and had a quick drive through the streets, and then back onto the autobahn.

We made one more stop (or was it two?), the second of which was at Wörthersee. We bought a road map, because Christian's phone was overheating to the point of not working, and we fancied an ice cream. It was a very short drive from there to the campsite. It was immediately obvious that Faak am See was a family-oriented holiday town as there were people and cyclists everywhere.

We found the campsite easily, parked just inside the entrance gate, and went looking for the office. The place was moderate mayhem, with a bunch of running types with numbers stuck on. In the office, we spoke to a nice English-speaking man, who looked quite harassed, and he had our booking and all was fine, but he said to give him 20 minutes and he'd show us to our site. We walked down to investigate the lake. It was stunning. Lots of people were swimming, so it was a bit cloudy, but obviously normally clear. It's fairly big, with an island against one edge. An hour later, during which we watched the races, which were pretty fun, the man finally came back, and cycled away to show us the site, with us walking behind.

It was a good spot, along the fence in a quiet area. As the races were still going on, we walked back to the car and retrieved the tent and the ready bed. After putting the tent up, and trying to get the pegs in the ridiculously hard ground, I dealt with the ready bed while Christian went back for the car.

Once we were set up, with one bag inside the tent, we headed to the restaurant for dinner. It was a surprisingly professional affair. It was packed, and they asked if we had a reservation. Luckily they had a spare table. I had Weiner schnitzel, and Christian had a mixed grill. We had very nice beer, mostly because it was cheaper than soft drinks. There was a lot of food, and Christian had to help me finish it, but it was very good, and pretty cheap.

We got ready for bed, and turned in for the night. There was loud music coming from across the lake, and the kids in the campsite were still pretty noisy, but I got to sleep fairly quickly.

Arrival: Abu Dhabi to London to Hazlemere

At Abu Dhabi, we disembarked around 5.30 local time, went through transit, and found our gate. We brushed our teeth and watched the sky spectacularly change colour until the sun came up. Our short hop back to London boarded and took off around 8.30. We were served breakfast and stayed awake, editing photos and watching films (I watched Mary Poppins, which was not terribly impressive).

We landed in London late, went through border control, and waited a long time for our three pieces of luggage. The tenor came through and looked like it hadn't been mistreated. Christian had got the plates of the taxi, and we found it outside, and went to Rackspace. We loaded the car and went, stopping for a wrap at the service station. We arrived home close to 2pm, and went straight to bed as we felt rough.

What a great trip. Busy, enjoyable, but not terribly relaxing. We'll be back next year.

Sydney and departure to Abu Dhabi

The alarm was set for 6.15 and we forced ourselves out of bed and did the last bit of packing, so that we left with Jill for the station at 7.10. We got there in plenty of time, said goodbye to Jill, and bought our multi-day tickets.

People walking past us on the platform asked us whether the holiday was beginning or ending, or commented that we were going somewhere exciting, which was fun. The train was one of the shinier Sydney trains, and we got seats in the vestibule, opposite each other, with the luggage out of everyone's way. I was a bit worried about the feasibility of dragging all our luggage around Sydney, but many of these misgivings were eliminated when I found out that the train we were on continued on to Wynyard anyway.

We got off at Wynyard, and took the lift to the concourse, where we had breakfast in a cafe. We then ventured out into George Street and went in search of the Rackspace office. We found it without difficulty, and went up to meet Bruce. After staying for an interesting chat and tour, and leaving our luggage in the storage room, we went back out (our load much lighter) and investigated O Bar and Australia Square. O Bar wasn't open until 5pm, and wouldn't let us in without smart clothing anyway, so we moved further up George Street to QVB and explored it a little.

From there we went across to Pitt Street and to Centrepoint, or whatever they call it these days. We asked about lunch, and found out we could pay $27 to go up to the observation deck, or $30 for one course of an a la carte lunch. No prizes for guessing which we chose, despite not exactly being dressed for a posh lunch. We were given a card and shown to the lift. It was a strange wedge shape, and there was a camera to see into another lift. At the top, we emerged and studied the lay of the land. The central section, with the lifts, the kitchen, and the desk staying still, but two rows of tables rotating. The window section obviously stayed still.

We were shown to a table against the window, and took our seats. I ordered salmon, and Christian ordered pork belly and a beer. The waiter brought us bread and oil/vinegar and we settled down to watch the view. It was lovely having the view brought to us. It was cloudy and not the clearest of days, but we saw lots and put the geography in perspective. The lunch was very good as well. Our photos won't be brilliant, but they'll be fun.

We headed back down to the real world, and made our way south to meet Cheryl (Ange couldn't make it). We had tea/coffee, resisting attempts from beggars to divest us of our money, and had a lovely catch up - it was very good to see her, and as we hadn't seen each other since school, we gave potted histories of ourselves to catch up. Good quality time.

Christian and I then made our way to the King St ferry wharf, on the Cockle Bay side of Darling Harbour, and got a ferry across the 400 metres or so of water to the other side. We wandered past the Maritime Museum and had a look at the boats, and then had a look at other things like fountains and street performers, before going into Harbourside and buying some appropriate souvenirs. We then walked around to Cockle Bay, looking at a crazy mirrored climbing wall thingo for kids, and then walked up through a restaurant complex that had whales hanging from the ceiling, to the Pyrmont Bridge, and then back into the city, via the post office to send my bank card back to Dad.

It was 4.30 by now, and there wasn't time to do anything else, so we wandered back down Pitt St, stopping in the mall to listen to a good busker, and then went back to Rackspace, collecting our luggage and thanking Bruce. We walked to Wynyard station, bought a gatepass to the international airport station, and got on the next train. Getting seats was easy enough, despite it being commuter hell time. At the airport, Christian investigated getting my tenor wrapped in plastic, but all the airport could offer was strapping, which was good enough, really. We dropped off our luggage, thankfully didn't have our hand luggage weighed, and then went through security. We had loads of time, and so sat at a bar and had a sherry, and then had an overpriced and average Chinese meal. It was then time to go to the gate, and so made our way to the right place for the 9.50 flight. As we boarded, we were told that our seats had been changed, so instead of being in a double seat near the back, we'd been moved to a bulk head, where admittedly we had more leg room, but which was a bit annoying. We had a meal, and then both of us slept for much of that flight, until a child having an enthusiastic screaming fit. I tried to get back to sleep but failed. Then came breakfast, and we landed soon after in Abu Dhabi.

Central Coast and packing

Up at usual time, we had breakfast and set off to the Central Coast the long way, through Doyalson. We stopped at the Entrance, and parked along the water, beyond the main street. We wandered past a fair, and past the pelican feeding area, taking in the sights and looking for somewhere to hire us some kayaks, as there were lots of people on the water. It wasn't until we'd gone under the bridge that we found a place, and wandered in. There was one double kayak, but mostly double canoes. We asked whether we could book something for that afternoon, but they said they wouldn't be able to, and to give them a call when we were on our way. They had a blue swimmer crab in a tank beside the counter, and it was distressing to see it jumping around, trying to escape.

Back at the car, we moved on, heading for Terrigal. The traffic on the way in was awful, and the town itself was full of people on such a lovely day. We drove past the busy part, over the hill to the dive shop and the oval, and found a park on the far side, walking back to the busy part to meet the G.I. girls at the Crowne Plaza. Al was waiting for us there, and we chatted while waiting for the others to turn up. No sign, so we walked around the hotel. Nope. Al texted Lisa, who was still in Erina. We heard nothing from Kristie.

The three of us got a table and Christian got us some drinks. We also looked at a menu there while we were waiting. Lisa, Chris, and Sebastian eventually arrived, having had satnav fail, and being caught in the traffic, and we decided to eat there, and took our seats for a fun catch up. We ordered lunch, and the place had got quite busy. Sebastian was very interested in his surroundings, and, having recently started walking, was keen to investigate, so Lisa and Chris took it in turns to take him for walks. He's a sweet boy.

I had a chicken schnitzel parmigiana, and Christian had lamb cutlets (I think). The meals were good, and took almost exactly the advertised 45 minutes. We heard from Kristie about now that her grandmother had been taken ill in hospital that morning, so she wasn't able to come, which was a disappointment. We finished off our meals, chatting some more, and the party broke up at about 2.45. It was good to see the girls, and to meet Sebastian.

Christian and I walked back to the car via the rocks (having to leap down to the sand at one stage), and had a walk to the other bays near the hill. They weren't suitable for snorkelling as the tide was very low, and Christian was more keen on kayaking than snorkelling, so we headed back to the Entrance. I got changed and we went to the hire place, only to find that it was closing. Damn. We were just not destined to go kayaking in Australia. So we drove over the bridge to the other side of the water for a swim. We investigated the far ocean beach first, walking over the dunes to get there. The patrolled section was miles away, so we just paddled, then followed the mouth on that same side until the current was weak enough and the water not deep enough to sink us. We made our way to a sand island in the middle and then swam back out, racing the current to lie around in the shallows and relax. It was a nice afternoon in the end, despite not having achieved our aim.

We headed back to Coal Point the same way we'd come, but with a detour in Morisset. People had told us that tourists had been visiting the hospital site in order to see lots of kangaroos in the wild, and while I didn't really approve of this practice, I was determined for Christian to see some kangaroos before we went home. So we turned off the road, which had signs designating it as a private road which was closed after 6.30 (it was well before 6.30), and kept driving until we spotted the first kangaroo beside the road. And then there were two more. And then the hospital itself had large, shady, green lawns that were filled with kangaroos. Success, finally! We turned the car around and stopped beside the two we'd seen, who were largely unconcerned, said hello to them and took some photos. Aim achieved, we drove back to Coal Point, stopping once more to buy some pizza for dinner.

Once there, we busied ourselves with cleaning out Dad's car (Christian did a brilliant job of vacuuming) and taking the bin up, and packing, and Christian wrapped up my tenor with my blue camp mat, string, and sticky tape. I discovered some missing photos on my external hard drive, but didn't have enough space for a real back up. Once the bulk of the packing had been done, we put the pizza in the oven. It was tasty. We tried to watch some West Wing, but Steve was determined to talk to us. Before long, it was bedtime, so we did some last packing, said goodbye to Steve, and went to bed, our last night in Coal Point.

Hospital and home to the lake

Up at 8am again, Jill suggested that we be at the hospital at 10am, as she had to be elsewhere then. We had no other plans this day. So we drove into Gateshead to see Dad. He wasn't doing well on the food front, having brought up his breakfast, and had forgot to put his oxygen back in and so wasn't feeling great. With the oxygen back in, he was happier, though still pale and weak. It was very hard saying goodbye, as this was the last time we were to see him on this trip.

We set off home, getting fuel in Warners Bay, and deciding to go to Glendale to get some luggage scales, some lunch, and look for some shoes for me. We got the scales from Dick Smith (having failed to get mechanical ones at Bunnings), some shoes for me, and some chicken skewers from Woollies (as well as a mountain of Tim Tams and cherry ripes).

Back at Coal Point, Christian barbecued the skewers and some corn on the cob while I made the salads, and we had a nice meal. I chose this afternoon to go through my camphor chest looking for trips to add to my blog (with moderate success), and we went through some photos. I sent Ange Sager a message to try and organise a chat, but didn't hear back from her. We then went down to the lake and Christian snorkelling while I read my book on the jetty. There were two young guys spear-fishing nearby, and I was a bit nervous about them reloading near us, and swimming by Christian, perchance thinking he was a large fish. And then they decided to use our jetty, so I asked them to go elsewhere.

I went for a quick dip, and then we hosed ourselves and our gear off headed back up to the house. We were the only ones home for the evening, so I got out some steaks for our dinner, which we had with hash browns and salad. After dinner, we watched some West Wing. Christian tried to hook up the laptop to the huge TV, but it wasn't having any of that. We had another reasonably early night.

Port Stephens and lobster

Up at 8am again (I felt much better), we tried once again to book kayaking in Port Stephens, and did so this time. We'd been thinking of going paddle boarding there with Jess, but she declined in the end as she had too much work to get done before term started again. We had breakfast and decided on another easy morning (blogging and doing photos and the like). During the course of the morning, the kayaking hire place rang to say that the wind had come up again so there was no kayaking for us. Boo.

Christian made us toasted sandwiches for lunch, and we packed up and left at about 12.30, stopping to transfer our house deposit at the building society, and to have a look at the fish shop in Argenton (it has an impressive marine representation, with fish and some amazing corals). The drive seemed a lot longer not being broken up. We went straight to Nelson Bay and parked at the end near the fish shops, having a quick glance at Bub's takeaway with a view to a snack and/or getting dinner there. Loaded up with snorkelling gear, we walked around the shops, peered into the water in the marina looking for fish, and got something to eat. We camped on Nelson Bay beach, at the closest end to the marina, and went in for a snorkel. It was incredibly windy, and the water was very cloudy and silty. We didn't see much. We decided to try again at the other end, and it was better, though there was a kid throwing a line in the water nearby. We went close to the rocks and found some fish and coral, but we also found a nasty current. We decided that that was enough and went back to the car.

I thought it was worth trying Fly Point or Halifax Park for snorkelling, but despite driving in the direction I thought they were, I could find the right places. And the tide was low anyway, and the wind strong on that side as well, so it wouldn't have been optimal. We kept on to Fingal Bay, and I felt sure that that, at least, would be more protected. I was wrong. I'd never seen such a swell there before. We walked down to the beach, but gave up on getting wet. Disappointing.

It wasn't quite dinner time, so we decided to investigate Boat Harbour, which could have been a potential snorkelling place, but we didn't think we'd get wet there either. After a 20 minute drive, during which we saw a red-belly black snake scooting along the road trying to avoid traffic, we arrived to the right of the main harbour, and investigated the rock pools. Christian put his phone, inside a waterproof sleeve, into a pool and then through a wave. It was nice there. We then drove to the main harbour, found a park, and walked onto the beach. Out of all places we'd stopped, it was the most sheltered, and we should have gone there to start with. Oh well.

We drove back to Nelson Bay, parking in the same place as before, and went into Bub's seafood. Christian had been toying with the idea of a seafood platter, but he decided on half lobster mornay with chips as well, so I ordered them for us and sat down with our buzzer to wait. They were $27.50, so fairly reasonable, and we hadn't managed to get lobster in the UK despite wanting to for some time. It was very busy, but the food came before too long. It was really delicious - Christian wolfed his down, but I savoured every mouthful.

We drove back to Coal Point in the growing darkness, hoping to see some kangaroos beside the road (but didn't). Stockton Bridge was very pretty with its lights against the sunset. Back at home, we caught up with Jill and the tennis, and went to bed.

Hospital, and Newcastle foreshore and Stockton

We were up at 8am again and tried to arrange for kayaking in Port Stephens that afternoon, but when we rang the hire shop they said that the wind was too strong. We had an easy morning, as Roy the cleaner was there, and Jill wanted to go off to the hospital, so we stayed until he'd finished. He's a sweetie. We arranged to be at the hospital at 12pm when Jill went off to Garden City. We fitted in a quick visit to the lake and the surf ski before heading off (which made us slightly late). Dad was in Lake Macquarie Private in Gateshead now, and so Christian navigated while I drove. It was easy enough to find. Again, he was looking very pale and small, and relying heavily on oxygen. He'd had the lung drained under a local anaesthetic, which sounded scary to me, and he'd been pretty terrified too, but he hadn't felt a thing. He still wasn't eating, mostly because he hadn't eaten for weeks, and the food that the hospital were bringing him were not palatable to someone who needed to start gently. The packet soups that Jill had bought were deemed not to have any protein in them. OK, but at least they're something.

We didn't really have any plans for the rest of the day, and Dad suggested we head into the honeysuckle area, so I thought we could add Stockton to that. We said goodbye, and drove into Newcastle, parking behind the honeysuckle restaurants. We wandered for a little while and chose a nice and cheap cafe to eat on the wharf. I had prawn and calamari pasta, and Christian had a chicken schnitzel sandwich.

Our parking was due to run out, so we decided to drive up to Nobby's to leave the car (where parking is free), and walk back to Queen's Wharf to get the ferry across to Stockton. So that's what we did. The ferry is still cheap. We walked out onto the breakwall to look at the shipwrecks, ships, and crows, and then went onto the beach for a while. I didn't fancy swimming, but Christian went in (I took photos).

After a while, we headed back to the ferry, just making the one we could see. I was hot and tired by now, and the walk back to the car was difficult. We fancied ice cream (nothing new there), and I decided that stopping in Beaumont Street would be a good plan, as it was the only place in Newcastle I could find proper gelato. We got a park, and I realised that the shop had gone. So we walked back up the street and found a Cold Rock. I got white chocolate and cherry ripe, and Christian got passionfruit and bounty. It was nice, but not amazing, and overpriced. Never mind.

We drove home, and as I was feeling rough, I went to bed. Christian woke me up at about 8.30 as we had to eat. I was incredibly groggy and tired for about 45 minutes. Christian cooked us crumbed fish and salad. I ate it and felt a little better. Christian thought I probably had sunstroke, but apart from a slightly burnt back, I didn't seem to have symptoms. Not sure what it was but I felt quite bad. I think we went to bed soon after dinner.

Reptile Park and dinner with Clint and Jess

We woke up at 8am, but took it easy for the morning, leaving around midday for Gosford and the reptile park. Sue had given us an entertainment book voucher, and so we got two-for-one tickets, which was most welcome. We parked in the sun, got our gear together, and went inside.

Just inside the entrance, we were met with a woman who was holding a dwarf bearded dragon, which I patted, and Christian held for a time. He was awesome. We went to see the aligator feeding, then the Tasmanian devil show, and then went around the exhibits, getting some lunch through the day. Christian made good use of the GoPro, both photographically and videographically. Turns out it's a good way to get animal videos - holding it on the end of a pole. It was a good day, though Christian got hungry and hot and was a bit uncomfortable for a while. I was disappointed that it was too hot for the kangaroos to be out and about, so Christian still believed them to be a 'marketing ploy'.

We left there at about 3.30, after a slushie, and headed back to Coal Point, which meant we got some time to relax and have a shower before going back out again.

We headed out again at 6pm to meet Clint and Jess in Warners Bay at 6.30. We took our seats in Brown Sugar, which was pleasantly swish, and had an impressive menu. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, because my left ear still hadn't cleared from diving the day before, and I had trouble hearing. It was also slightly difficult to see, as the sun was pelting through the window at us, and the blind wasn't really doing a very good job of filtering it. We had three very good courses - mine were octopus salad, kangaroo loin (yes it was revenge for not seeing any that day), and a chocolate pudding. I didn't drink as I'd offered to drive, and strangely, I felt like it took away from the meal. It was a lovely evening, though, and great to catch up with Clint and Jess. The bill came to $90 a head, and I was a bit uneasy about that, even though it had been extremely good.

On the way downstairs from the restaurant, I managed to break my third pair of old Coal Point shoes. I think I've probably learned my lesson now. We headed home and to bed.

Bondi, diving in Camp Cove, and Manly

The alarm went off at 5.15, and we were packed and ready to go at 6am (with tea and toast in hand). We had a mostly easy run on the M1, M2, and harbour tunnel, and got to Bondi at 8am, parking in a nearby street for free. The dive shop wasn't open yet, so we found a football-obsessed cafe who cooked us a nice breakfast. We went into the shop when it opened and met Rick, our guide. We went upstairs to the teaching room, and went through the required forms, and then through the training session. Much of it was reiterating what I'd learnt before, but I learnt a few new things, and going over stuff was reassuring anyway.

Once done, and I'd only got one of the questions in the quiz after wrong by not reading the question properly, we went downstairs and were fitted for wetsuits and wings. We then went back to the car to get our gear (Christian still in his wetsuit), I picked up some sandwiches for lunch, and met we Rick at his car. The drive to Camp Cove was surprisingly long - and once there, parking was incredibly difficult. We unloaded our stuff, and Rick hovered until a parking space became available.

Rick walked us up to a high point to tell us the plan for the dives and sketch out the scene. We then kitted up, and got into the water. We moved out beyond shoulder depth, and I did my skills tests. Firstly, I did reg remove and replace - once by clearing the reg with my breath, and once by pressing the button. I found clearing with my breath challenging for some reason. I panicked about having to open my mouth to put the reg in. I found pressing the button much less stressful. Then I had to do the dreaded mask clear. I somehow managed it without choking or shooting to the surface, but I'm pretty sure I held my breath during it. Then we headed off for our first dive.

I never felt comfortable on this dive. I couldn't empty my wing properly to descend. I couldn't go where I wanted to - I was rocking side to side, and for the first half of the dive, I was dragging along the bottom. Rick said he'd look after my buoyancy, and he did eventually, but mostly went off ahead with the DSMB and left me to it. I think I was still trying to breathe through my nose, and so my mask kept filling up, and I had to clear it (equalising my ears at the same time, at least). My fin came loose and I managed to put it back on and tighten it. Rick pointed out some octopuses and rays, and lots of fish, which were awesome. I wanted to abort a number of times, but didn't want to give up. After an eternity, we got back to shore, and I could relax.

I felt peculiar though - dizzy and disoriented. My left ear was blocked, despite being able to equalise the whole time. I felt like I'd done quite badly, and didn't really want to go back in the water, but I sat for a while and ate half a sandwich, and ended up feeling better in time. I talked over what had gone wrong with Christian, and I felt like I understood, and knew better how to cope.

We kitted up again, and went into the water. With no skills first, I was feeling more relaxed, and we descended - I more successfully this time. But I took control of the wing, and filled it back up a little so I wouldn't drag along the bottom. This worked a treat. I was able to concentrate more on what I was doing, and look at the underwater world around me a lot more. I wasn't rolling around all the time, and my trim was a lot better, though it felt very unnatural. I did stray to the surface a couple of times, so I think perhaps there was too much air in the wing - I was higher than Rick was in the water. I got a bit cold in the wetsuit at one point when we were at our deepest (about seven metres). I tried to dump air by lifting my backside and using the kidney dump, without success. At the end, Christian got Rick to take a photo of us underwater, but I couldn't get low enough in the water. Still, I came out of this dive feeling a lot happier and more confident - glad that I'd persevered. We took a photo out of the water and headed back to the car, dekitting and packing up.

Rick drove us back to the shop, and we thanked him and went to the car. Christian was keen on a swim somewhere else, but I wasn't sure what would be possible given how busy Camp Cove had been. He suggested Manly, and I agreed immediately. We drove through the city and to the east above the harbour to get there, paying for parking and taking our gear down to the sand. We ended up between the two sets of flags, and the lifeguards were strenuously removing people in the wrong places. So we moved up the beach to the flags, and went in. It was cold to start with, but lovely in. We went out to where the waves were rolling before the break and it was many fun. We went in for a sit down, and Christian got itchy feet as expected, and went back in. After that, we moved on to see if we could find ice cream. As we got back to the car, Doug Blaxell rang, and I spoke to him while Christian took some photos, and while we strolled towards the main street.

The conversation ended, and we walked to the harbour end of the main street, which does actually have a beach (with shark nets). We watched the ferry loading up and saw thousands of fish underneath it. Christian fancied sushi, and had seen one at the top of the street, but there was good gelato at the bottom. We compromised and went back for the sushi at the top. It was OK - on a belt, and interesting, but dry. We gulped it down in time to rescue the car from a parking fine, giving up on ice cream for now.

We drove home via the highway, intending to seek ice cream on the central coast, and take the long way back. But it was getting late, so we headed straight home on the M1 (F3), stopping for fuel in Morisset and getting an ice cream there. At home, we relaxed, and I made a small salad for us later in the evening before going to bed.

Hospital, dropping off car, and lake shenanigans

I was feeling a bit stressed after all the activity, and at the prospect of diving the next day, and so we had a slow morning, and drove in to the Mater to see Dad. He was looking small and weak, but determined to get better - he was due to be moved to Lake Macquarie Private to have his lung redrained that day. We drove back in time to drop off the car for new tyres and new headlining at 12pm.

While in Toronto, we bumped into Andrew Gardiner at the tyre place and had a nice chat, had lunch at the Double Take cafe, I closed my term deposit account, and sorted out a couple of other building society issues, I called in to see Kristy at the RSL, and then Jill picked us up at 2pm and drove us back to Coal Point. We filled in time until it was time to collect the car, went to get it (buying stamps at the same time), and then headed back to Coal Point and the lake with our snorkelling gear.

We got the surf ski out and had a play around - Christian tried to get on the back and learned the hard way that this was a bad idea. He tried getting on the front, but I refused to move until he got off. While I was out, Christian put the GoPro on the bottom of the lake, which recorded my return on the surf ski. We tried the GoPro on the surf ski, but it was swinging around too wildly to get good footage. We then had a snorkel, and saw a surprising amount of interesting stuff.

We packed up and went back to the house. We'd intended to watch some West Wing, but I wanted to do some organising, and printing out and filling in the diving forms, so by 9.45 I was ready for bed and needing sleep.

Melbourne to Newcastle, Shoal Bay with Sue et al, schoolies meal

The alarm went off at 5am in a most unwelcome way, and we packed up and got to the airport in good time. We got breakfast much like we had on our other arrival at Melbourne airport, but this time we had to throw most of our tea/coffee out. I was not happy. The flight was not full.

I dozed most of the flight, and we were in Newcastle soon enough. Jill was due to meet us there, and we met up very quickly, and drove back to Coal Point. We had a shower, repacked for the day, I did a bit of organisation on the laptop, and we headed back out to Stockton. It was great to see Sue, and Camillo and Matt and Sue Pendlebury. After inspecting where Sue had nearly burned the house down, we set off in Soopy's and Matt's cars in the direction of the Bay. Camillo stayed at home. As I went to get in Matt's car, one of my sandals broke (and I love those sandals). Matt offered me a giant pair of his thongs, and I accepted. We stopped at the brewery/winery at Bobs Farm, each got a beer/cider, some crisps, and we sat down to relax under the umbrellas and chatted. When Christian went off to the toilet, Sue told me how wonderful she thinks he is, which means a lot.

We finished our drinks, and got back in the cars, driving on up to Port Stephens. Matt subjected us to the Twelfth Man. At Shoal Bay, we drove on nearly to Tomaree head before getting a car park. Sue/Soopy/Kev parked near the fish and chips shop. Christian and I got changed, and the others ordered fish and chips for us as we walked to meet them. It wasn't the nicest meal in the world, but it was jolly.

We crossed the road, and went for a dip. Christian got in quickly, but I found it cold. I got in eventually. Soopy jumped in and jumped out straight away. Sue stayed just over her knees. It was nice to cool off. We joined Matt and Kev in the pub across the road, and I got changed. We headed off soon after - Matt drove us back to Sue's, and we said our goodbyes and headed back to Coal Point.

Christian had opted to stay at home that evening, so I had a shower and went back out to meet my school friends at Blue Water Pizza at Warners Bay. Unfortunately, a lot of people either couldn't come or dropped out, and so it was only me, Ash, Lorrice, and Nat. It was a nice evening, though, and good to catch up.

I drove home, and we went to bed soon after.

More Hobart, the farm, and back to Melbourne

We made sure that we were up and showered by 8am today, as we needed to get on the road sooner than we had the day before. We had some tea/coffee, then Nick drove us in his ute to Hobart so we could have breakfast and look at the Salamanca markets. We parked a little way off, and walked into the market precinct, choosing Barcelona as a place to have breakfast. I once again had eggs benedict, and Christian had a 'big breakfast'. They had a long wait on the coffees, so Sarah went elsewhere to get hers. Our breakfast came out extremely quickly, and was very good. The milkshakes that the boys had ordered, however, failed to appear, and we cancelled them as we paid the bill and moved on.

Nick went off to do some chores, and the three of us wandered through the fairly impressive and interesting markets, trying some wasabi cherries, chilli non-alcoholic ginger beer, and some of us tried some mead. Christian bought some ginger beer and some postcards, but otherwise we were happy to just look and sample. Nick rejoined us, and we made our way down the other side of the markets, and into a vintage car display, which was pretty cool. Sarah found a Morris Minor like the one that Nick had bought her, and asked some of the guys for advice on doing it up.

We walked back to the car, and drove back to Richmond, changing clothes and swapping stuff before heading back out again to Nick's farm to the north-east of Richmond. We drove in to the main house, and stopped to have a look at the Morris. It really does need a lot of work. We then got back in the ute and four-wheel-drove down the steep grassy slope in search of the sheep. We found a small clump of them and kept driving to the river. Nick got out his fishing rod in the hope of snagging some trout. He failed. Christian had a go, and caught a log, or something else heavy that swallowed the lure and hook. Oops. We had a small wander and I spent the whole time looking out for snakes, as Nick and Sarah had told me (perhaps as a joke) that there were a lot in the grass.

We drove on, back up the other side of the hill, and found the rest of the sheep, huddling together under the shade of a huge tree. They wandered off, and Nick tried to herd them back under the tree but failed. We had a look at the sandstone quarries, and at the shed for working the sandstone, at the tree plantations for pulp, and then at the shearing shed. The wool from the prize ram was super soft, and quite oily.

We drove on, stopping at the bushland gardens nearby, where Nick wanted to show us the 'dinosaur'. It was gone. The gardens were a display of native plants, and some locally sculpted artwork in metal. Some were very clever. We drove on back to Richmond, via Sorell, where we bought some barbecue chicken and salad for dinner.

Back at the house, we relaxed for a while, and then Sarah's and Nick's friend Margaret came around for dinner. We had a lavish chicken, wrap, and salad dinner, Sarah forced me to eat some more strawberries, ice cream, and ice magic, and then it was time to go. We said goodbye to Nick, and Sarah drove us the short distance to the airport. I was sorry to leave Tasmania, as it had made its mark on me. I was also sorry to leave Sarah - it had been great to see her.

At the airport, we went through security, had a look at some souvenirs, and boarded the flight quite quickly. The flight itself was uneventful, and we arrived at Melbourne after 10pm. Despite Christian's doubt, we found the Ibis easily, were given our key, went into the room, had showers, and got into bed as quickly as we could. I texted Sue to organise the next day, but we were soon asleep in the air conditioning.

Exploring Hobart

Sarah was up before us, despite having been completely exhausted the night before, and we decided to get up at about 8am. We had a lazy breakfast, and formulated a plan to go to Mount Wellington, Huon Valley,  Geeveston for sushi, and a stop at a winery on the way home.

We packed up and left at about 10.30. We headed up to Mount Wellington, via the city, and a few mountain suburbs, on a steep and winding road. It was quite cool at the top, and I should have had another layer. We walked up onto the rocks, and to the lookout and the new shiny toilet block. There were no substantial walks to do up there, but it was fun pootling around and looking at the view, which was extremely good. It wasn't completely clear, but we could certainly see all of Hobart and the Derwent. There's one obviously broadcast tower made of steel frame, but there's also a large white tower there that Christian was curious about, but we didn't find out what it was. Turns out it's a broadcast tower as well, made of concrete and steel, which beams all the FM radio stations and some digital TV stations. We saw some cool beetles, and there was some pretty ground-level flowering vegetation.

We drove down the other side of Mt Wellington, and headed towards the Huon Valley, getting stuck behind some slow traffic on the way. Sarah pointed out the cherry orchard that she's working at at the the moment, and also the backpackers hostel that's causing her grief. There were a lot of orchards under netting, and lots of boats on the extremely wide Huon River.

We arrived in Geeveston very hungry, and found the sushi place easily in such a small town. We had a seat, and started with miso soup (which was very tasty, and had vegetables in it). Turns out that because we arrived around 2pm, much of the sushi was gone for the day, but we asked for a platter with everything left to feed three. It came out looking very impressive - we had salmon nigiri, one cooked tuna ISO roll, two raw tuna ISO rolls, an omelette roll, and a couple of other pieces each. It was fresh and delicious, worth the wait, and only $25 a head.

We'd talked about going further south-east to Dover and the beach, but in the event we turned back to Hobart, and headed back out to Richmond. Sadly, the wineries were closing by then as it was 5pm. Never mind.

Nick got home soon after we did, and we decided to go out for dinner to the Richmond Arms. We did the short walk into the centre of town, and found a table in the rather warm pub. Sarah and I ordered a seafood basket, and the boys ordered a chicken parmigiana schnitzel (though Sarah and Christian arranged to have half each of their meals). We shared a bottle of sparkling wine. It was a nice meal - the seafood was beautifully cooked despite being battered. The pub had some colourful characters come in - I wondered whether the client base stretched further afield than Richmond.

We did the walk back to the house, watched some tennis, and went to bed early again.

Melbourne to Hobart

Our alarm was set for 4am, which hurt a lot. We got up, though, and Mum and Tom very kindly drove us to the airport through the sparse traffic. After goodbyes, we went into the terminal, went through security, and grabbed some breakfast (which for Christian was a beef and horseradish sandwich, and for me was a white chocolate and macadamia cookie). We went to the gate to eat, and had to drink our tea/coffee before we got on the flight. We used the mobile check-in for the first time, and they scanned the code and gave us a ticket anyway.

The flight was only an hour and ten minutes, and we mostly dozed, but there were some incredibly rude and ignorant Tasmanians behind us who made the trip a bit uncomfortable. We got off in Hobart, and took the only method of transport into the city that was available to us - the shuttle bus. It cost $17, but the man was nice, and there were hardly any people on it. He dropped us in the city, and we headed for the harbour. I couldn't understand why people were wearing summery clothes as it was cold. After seeing which lunchtime cruises were available, the first stop was breakfast, and we had that at T42 (degrees south). It was very pleasant, but the sun was incredibly bright and hot, and before long I removed layers and changed shoes. We repacked our bags with our boots, and wandered back to book a cruise. Christian really wanted to do a cruise on the tall ship, and I wasn't averse, so we booked that at $80 a head.

We decided to walk up to the Botanical Gardens via Queen's Domain and the Soldier's Walk, and it was hot and uphill. It was worthwhile, as the Botanical Gardens were cool and verdant. There was a Robin Hood pantomime running, which was very lively.

We took the easy way back into the city, and were ready to board the tall ship at 1pm. There was a bit of a delay, but we eventually got on, and Dylan gave us the safety briefing, including how to put on a lifejacket, where not to walk on the ship, and to look out for the harsh sun. We motored out a good way onto the Derwent, had a chicken and salad roll lunch, and then the crew went through the difficult process of putting the sails up. Gradually, they put eight of them up. The wind wasn't strong enough as we weren't moving very fast, but it was really interesting to see how they went about things - two of them had to go up the mast to unhook the sails. We then had some cheese and fruit, and we were taken on a tour below decks, which was claustophobic but interesting. We met the ship's cat, who lazily lifted her head as we talked in the room containing the sofa on which she slept, then went back to sleep.

Time was getting on, and I let Sarah know that we would be late meeting her. We went beyond where we started, almost to the bridge, before the sails came down and the motor went back on. The captain (Sarah) expertly steered the ship back to its dock under motor, and we disembarked. It was lots of fun, and I was really glad we did it.

We walked to the cenotaph to meet Sarah, and eventually found her lurking near some boot camp crazies. We drove to a supermarket to buy dinner, and Christian acted as basket carrier while he dealt with mine and Sarah's crazy conversation. We drove on to Richmond, though ever-increasing country scenery, and got to the house, which was off dirt road after the sealed part of the road ran out. Richmond is a beautiful, convict-built, sandstone town, with a famous bridge, a gaol, and lots of tourists. We met Nick, said hello to Persia, and they whipped up a delicious dinner of salmon, smashed potatoes, and salad. With fruit, ice cream, and ice magic for dessert. :-)

We watched some T20 cricket on TV, marvelling at how ridiculous it was, and then turned in for bed quite early.

The Mornington peninsula

We got up normal time, had breakfast, and got ready for a road trip. We had a vague plan to get as far down the Mornington Peninsula as we could, and stop in as many dive shops as we could to buy a strap for diving with the GoPro. We studied the Melways and I worked out how to get there. Then we set off with Christian in the driving seat.

It was a lovely warm day. The route was simple down Springvale Road, and onto the coast road. We first saw the beach at Chelsea. I was very surprised to find that the water was beautiful and tropical-looking. Frankston was the biggest town we went through, but we didn't stop there. We kept on to Mornington, as we'd singled out a dive shop to have a look in. Upon arrival in Mornington, we discovered that half the population of Victoria had converged on it. We crawled down the main street, dodging pedestrians, to the water, and didn't find anywhere to park down there, so came back up the car park side, and wasted about 15 minutes going in an out of different sections. We gave up and drove back to the approach to the town, and got a park for two hours there.

We walked back into the town, keeping an eye out for the dive shop, and for somewhere to eat lunch. We found the dive shop in a side street, and bought a fluorescent yellow wrist strap that would do the job. Finding lunch proved more difficult. There were a lot of nice looking places, but they were all full. We decided on the pub in the end, and apart from the hours it took Christian's drink to come out, it was very good.

We walked back to the car, via Optus to get a new mini-SIM for my phone, and headed south in search of excitement. We found a nice beach just outside the town, a place to leave the car, and made our way down via a boat ramp to the sand. The water was shallow, and the bay open, so we mainly splashed around. I went to get my swimmers on, but never actually got in, as it was a bit cool. The sand was horribly annoying to walk on, but we explored the far end of the beach, and Christian chose to swim back rather than walking on the sinky sand.

We packed up, and continued south again. Beyond Mornington, Safety Beach looked the loveliest, but we kept driving, as we had the time. By now, I'd given up on making it to Michael's gig that night, though I was upset to give it up, given it was the only gig I was going to see, and it had been so fortuitous. The road between there and Sorrento seemed endless, but we eventually made it to Portsea, and were surprised to find a national park with some kind of military installation ('defensive facility') there. We drove as far as we could, then parked and walked through the warm and fly-ridden bush to the water. The beach was lovely, and mostly deserted. We went for a walk, but didn't reach the furthest tip.

We headed back to the car, and made our way east/north again. We chose to stop at Dromana for a swim, which was just before Safety Beach, as the water looked deep and inviting. It was pretty darn cold, as well, and I was still feeling fairly coldy. I made the effort to submerge myself fully, and was pleased that I did. We monkeyed around for a while, with some GoPro action, and then settled back in the car for the final trip home. There was an exit to the freeway nearby, and so we took that, which cut off most of the slow bit of the trip (and was a really nice road), and we found ourselves back at Mitcham quite quickly - I think by 8pm. We filled the car up with fuel on the way.

We had salmon for dinner, which was very tasty. It was nice to be at home for our final night in the end. We did as much packing as we could, and prepared ourselves for an unpleasantly early morning. Bed.

Another walk, Maitripa, and curry dinner

Having explored the city the day before, we didn't really have a huge plan for this day, and so took it easy in the morning. We had a walk in the bush with Mum and Tom, having a look at a historical cottage, and the big ugly grey tower on the way. Back at home, we had lunch, and then, as Mum and Tom had arranged a visit to Maitripa, we packed up the car and headed out on a road trip. I'd considered us dropping in at the Healesville sanctuary, but it was more expensive than, and too similar to, the Gosford Reptile Park, so we gave it a miss. Christian still hadn't seen any kangaroos at this point.

The drive was pleasant, and Christian got to see a type of country he hadn't until now - vineyards and sheep country, and wet forest as we headed up into the hills from Healesville. At the centre, it was hard to miss Rinpoche's stupa. It's enormous and beautiful. We walked a few turns around it in respect (kora?). There were a load of retreatants coming out and had some group photos taken in front of the stupa. After they'd gone, we had a closer look at the stupa, and met the woman who was running the summer school (whose name I've forgotten). We also got to have a look at the new bar next to the cafe - it looks lovely.

We decided to go for a walk up the mountain, and made it to the ridge. I was going slowly, as I wasn't 100%, but it was lovely, and definitely worth doing. It was cool, and overcast.

Back at the car, we hopped in and made our way back home, passing some running sheep beside the road, and noting as we went over the Yarra. Back at home, we relaxed for a time, and then headed back out in the car to pick up Joan, as we were going out for a delicious curry dinner. At the restaurant, a young boy served us for most of the time - it was fun as he was a real natural. It was lovely to see Joan - she's such a sweetie.

We chose a good handful of dishes, and shared them. The food was just as delicious as I remember. We also had some tasty wines to go with the food. It was a lovely evening. And it continued, as Joan offered to host us for tea and cake at her house afterwards. She presented a wonderful spread of refreshments in her absolutely immaculate living room. Really lovely. I was very tired, though, and we left after 10.30. At home, we went straight to bed.

Exploring Melbourne city

We had a lovely sleep in until about 8 again, and went up for breakfast. I wasn't feeling too great, but decided that I wanted us to have a day in the city. It was a much cooler day, and overcast. As Mitcham station was closed for refurbishment, Mum kindly took us to a newsagent on the main drag where we could top up my Myki and buy Christian one. She left us to catch a 907 into the city.

One came along quite quickly, and we got on. The journey was comfortable and easy enough. We got off on Lonsdale Street, and started walking down Swanston Street. I had intended for us to get lunch at Brunetti's, but as we walked past all the exciting looking Asian restaurants and dim sum places, the temptation was too great, and we went and sat down in a nice-looking dim sum restaurant. It was tasty, and relatively cheap. The highlight was giant spring rolls served upright in a glass.

We kept on down Swanston until an interesting 'little' street, ending up on Bourke St Mall. Then Elizabeth. We got distracting buying a North Face shirt for Christian, and a wombat called Russell for Heather (complete with birth certificate). We kept on down Elizabeth (via Starbucks) to Flinders, and back up to the station. We wandered past the Arts Centre and the National Gallery, snapping photos, with Christian getting distracted by putting the GoPro in a fountain. A bit further down, we crossed the road, and walked back to the tram stop via Queen Victoria Gardens and some friendly ducks, and via the Yarra bridge and a view of the MCG. We had a quick wander around Fed Square, and looked at a 4WD demonstration.

At the tram stop, we got the next available tram to St Kilda, enjoyably watching the world go by on the way, getting off on the Esplanade. It was blowing a gale there, and there were actual waves. We walked out onto the pier, watching the kite surfers. We didn't stop at the cafe on the end of the pier, but kept going to the breakwall, Christian walking along the top, where the spray was quite strong off the waves, and I along the inside, saying hello to a black swan, and keeping an eye out for penguins (there were none). We met up again, and made our way back to the shore. There wasn't much else to see or do here, and so we headed back to the tram stop.

There was a bit of wait for the 96, and so we got the 112 for a change of scene. I certainly saw bits of Melbourne I'd never seen before, and Christian did his trick of the GoPro in the window. We must have changed to a 1 at some point, and got off at Lygon St. I went to where I remember Brunetti to have been, and it just wasn't there. I could have been wrong, but we started walking up Lygon St, and Christian employed google maps. It was hiding in a shopping centre. It's definitely moved. How rude!

Anyway, we went inside, intending to only have a snack. It turned into a full meal of calzone and a beer for Christian - perhaps not the most appropriate thing to do at 5pm. And of course, it would have been rude not to have ice cream. I bought some biscuits for us to have at home later. We headed out and bought some nice bottles for Mum and Tom, and got back on a tram - just a short hop back to Lonsdale St to get the bus back to Mitcham.

As the sign indicated a long wait, Christian went off to get a coffee, and of course a bus came and went while he was gone. We got the next one, and were duly delivered back in Mitcham, getting off before the main street. We walked back to the house, which was fairly pleasant in the sunny evening.

At home, we delivered our gifts, had a sociable chat, ate our Brunetti biscuits, gave a report of the day, and Christian and I had leftover moussaka for dinner. Then bed.